Lukas 11:48

11:48 So you testify that you approve of ¹  the deeds of your ancestors, ²  because they killed the prophets ³  and you build their ⁴  tombs! ⁵ 

Lukas 12:18

12:18 Then ⁶  he said, ‘I ⁷  will do this: I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.

Lukas 14:28

14:28 For which of you, wanting to build a tower, doesn’t sit down ⁸  first and compute the cost ⁹  to see if he has enough money to complete it?

¹ tn Grk “you are witnesses and approve of.”

² tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

³ tn Grk “them”; the referent (the prophets) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁴ tn “Their,” i.e., the prophets.

⁵ tc The majority of mss list a specific object (“their tombs”), filling out the sentence (although there are two different words for “tombs” among the mss, as well as different word orders: αὐτῶν τὰ μνημεῖα (autwn ta mnhmeia; found in A C W Θ Ψ 33 Ï) and τοὺς τάφους αὐτῶν (tou" tafou" autwn; found in Ë^1,[13] 2542 pc). This suggests that early copyists had no term in front of them but felt the verb needed an object. But since a wide distribution of early Alexandrian and Western mss lack these words (Ì⁷⁵ א B D L 579 1241 it sa), it is likely that they were not part of the original text of Luke. Nevertheless, the words “their tombs” are inserted in the translation because of requirements of English style.

⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

⁷ sn Note how often the first person pronoun is present in these verses. The farmer is totally self absorbed.

⁸ tn The participle καθίσας (kaqisas) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

⁹ tn The first illustration involves checking to see if enough funds exist to build a watchtower. Both ψηφίζω (yhfizw, “compute”) and δαπάνη (dapanh, “cost”) are economic terms.